The Boy

Image created in Ai Leonardo by Helen 

One day he just appeared on the streets of the busy town. He was a tall skinny boy of  maybe 14 years or perhaps a little older. He had a ragamuffin look about him. His shock of red hair tumbled about his forehead, his eyes, appeared too big for his face and were deep blue. He wore a t-shirt that had seen better days and his jeans were ripped, not by accident, but more by design.  

He fitted in with the general population, no one would have taken any notice of him. He was able moved around the town with little problem and  he’d stand in  a position that gave him an advantage point to watch, and note. He appeared intent on observing anything and everything. He didn’t know if he should interact in any way. He wasn’t sure how he should behave here. 

I first saw him standing on the corner of Bayswater Street and Nolan. I  would not have taken notice of him, except for those eyes. They stood out, over large and sparkling in the late afternoon sunshine, like nothing I had ever seen before. I couldn’t take my eyes off of them and somehow felt drawn towards him. As I got closer I noticed the colour of his skin. It was a normal pinkish yellow but running through the flesh were these tinges of green.  His hands seemed slender and he fingers a little longer than they should be. 
“Hello,” I said.
 He never replied, just stared at me as though I was something unknown to him. 
“I haven’t seen you before.”

  I waited but he seemed more occupied with looking at his own hands, then he took hold of one of mine and studied it. Was he comparing it to his own? I don’t know. Now I was closer to him, the green tinge in his skin seemed much darker. My heart beat a little faster and I was starting to feel unsettled. Who has greenish skin, was he sick? I stepped back making some space between us. Part of me wanted to run and part of me wanted to find out more about him. He sort of looked normal, but there was something, I couldn’t put my finger on it, that wasn’t quiet right.

  He looked away from me. I followed his gaze to across the road where a large scruffy dog was sitting by a lamp-post. He pointed at the creature and tilted his head towards me. I felt sure he was asking me what it was. Why wouldn’t he know what a dog was?  
“Dog.” I said, pointing towards it.
“Dog.” he replied.
“Yes”. 
He now seemed interested in something father away and he started off in its direction. I couldn’t follow, I needed to get on with my errands. I felt a cold shiver go down my back the more I thought about that skin colour and those long fingers. Perhaps, just perhaps, he wasn’t from here. No that’s silly. “That’s pure fantasy,” I said out loud, as though to reassure myself. 

Later in the day I saw him again, this time sitting on the edge of the town’s memorial fountain. He was just staring out, it looked like he was observing the people as they passed by. Should I approach him again? The feeling of being drawn towards him was very strong, too hard to resist, even though  it made my flesh crawl. I couldn’t help myself. Just before I reached him a man dressed in a smart suit rushed up to him. I stopped in my tracks. This time it was me observing.
“Thank God,” he said as he took the boy by the arm. “You shouldn’t be out here.”
The boy stood and faced him. “Why not am I.” 
“You’re not ready for this, come I’ll take you back.”
“Watching I have been.” The boy tilted his head.
“Ah, I see.” said the man. “Time to come back now.”
“I not the same.” He held out his hand with the long fingers and the greenish tinge to his skin.
“You are new,” the man said in a soft voice.
“I am?”
“Yes, you are.” He smiled at the boy.
“How new?”
“Let me see.” He looked at his watch and appeared to be calculating something. His lips moved but no sound came out.  Then he said. “Very.”
“Why skin different.”
“Oh the green tinge, don’t worry about that. We’ll fix it with the next experiment. Come along now.”
He led the boy off to a black Range Rover. I watched them disappear in the direction of the large Laboratory Building that was situated just outside of the town.

I had stood close enough to hear what was being said. The man seemed anxious and more interested in getting the boy back to the Laboratory to notice me standing nearby. Was  the boy an experiment? What were they doing out there? I knew I hadn’t had a good feeling about any of this, at least he wasn’t an alien, which was a relief. But this wasn’t good news either. I wonder who I should tell and more to the point, would they believe me?


©Helen A. Howell 2026